Book Review: Burning The Ice

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Burning The Ice     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Laura J. Mixon
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction
Tor, Aug 2002, $25.95, 544 pp.

Almost fifty light years from earth, Brimstone is an icy moon in which the inhabitants are descendants of clones of exiles who fled earth over a century ago. Struggling to survive on this hostile world, the colonists are trying to terraform this frozen orb into a more habitable locale as their equipment is beginning to fail.

Since her twin died at birth, Manda is an acerbic loner in a world where everyone else has at least a twin and privacy is impossible. No one but a person like Manda would volunteer for the harsh role of observing from a sub the results of Project IceFlame, an endeavor to release heat and greenhouse gases trapped by frozen glaciers. However, Manda discovers more than she expected. Her data displays unexplained heat sources in the ocean under the ice that reflect intelligent life. For Manda the adventure has just begun, as her peers appear hostile towards her and her discovery and that the starship that dumped the original colonists on Brimstone hovers in the background.

Renowned for her thought provoking science fiction novels (see PROXIES), Laura J. Mixon does it again with a complex book that hooks readers from start to finish. BURNING THE ICE is a sequel to PROXIES albeit a century later and ice bound as opposed to space bound, but it raises new issues inside a cerebral, fast-paced thriller. The key to the novel is Manda, an interesting lead protagonist who is the sun that the plot and other characters evolve around. Fans of terse outer space tales will appreciate Ms. Mixon’s latest intelligent action packed triumph.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner